Stanton Store owner branches out with Duke's Pizzeria in Pittstown

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FRANKLIN TWP. — Jeff Berner is branching out. The proprietor of the Stanton General Store now also owns and operates Duke’s Pizzeria & Italian Restaurant in Pittstown.

The establishment had been known most recently as Perricone’s Market.

Berner, at age 42, is an old hand in the retail food business. When he was 10 years old, his dad, Bill, started operating the All American Hero eatery near Hunterdon Central High School, and it remained in the family for 24 years, with Jeff working his way up to become manager. That place is now a Dunkin’ Donuts shop.

Jeff and his wife Nicole acquired the Stanton General Store in Readington Township last June, and Anthony Lorenzi is managing it while Berner concentrates on Duke’s. Don’t go there looking for Duke. It’s named after a deli that Bill Berner used to own in Westfield before he came to Hunterdon.

This Duke’s is a deli, too, but it’s also a three-meals-a-day restaurant, starting with breakfast sandwiches, bagels and Danish and finishing with pizza and Italian dinner specials every night, and it’s all eat-in or take-out. Hours are Mondays through Thursdays, 7 a.m.-9 p.m.; and Fridays and Saturdays, 7 a.m.-10 p.m. It’s closed Sundays. Duke’s also caters office luncheons, birthday parties and other occasions.

Berner’s pizza expert is Steven Duran, who most recently worked at Max’s 31 in Raritan Township. When asked what pizza he’d serve in order to win a convert to Duke’s, he said it would be half chicken and asparagus with red onion and sun-dried tomatoes, and half chicken pesto with red tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and roasted red pepper. But don't worry; they have pepperoni, too.

Duke’s building, at 371 Pittstown Road (Route 579), has been a crucial component of the village for more than a century. It was home to Dalrymple’s Market from 1892 to 1979, according to the Berners. It was a grocery store that added gas pumps as the demand developed. The store went through a few owners until it was sold to the Perricones in 1993.